Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
An Irish Materia Medica (Author: Tadhg Ó Cuinn)
subsection 193
193. Mirtuis: i.e. the bog myrtle; cold in the first degree and dry in the second degree; it is better fresh than dried. If the seeds be dried in the sun, they will retain their efficacy for two years, while
p.584
the foliage retains its efficacy for three years; it has the retentive virtue on account of its tartness, and the comforting virtue on account of its being aromatic; it is for that reason that it serves well against choleric vomiting, flux of the abdomen, and the flux of menstruation, when they are caused by weakness of the retentive virtue and sharpness of the humours. If the seeds of this herb be pounded with the white of egg, and it be applied as a plaster on the stomach, it will stop the vomiting. If the same plaster be put on the kidneys, it will stop the flux of menstruation. If the same herb be boiled in water and a bath be made of it, and the ill person be put sitting in it, this will stop the flux of dysentery and of menstruation. Item, take the seeds of this herb, roots of madder, agrimony, and meadow sweet, and roots of avens, boil them in water and put honey or sugar in it, and, if this be drunk in the morning and before going to bed, it will help the wounds.